DAYTONA BEACH -- A few years ago, members of the Daytona Beach Partnership Association piled into a car and drove around downtown looking for an ailing property they could choose for a makeover.

"We saw quite a few, but the obvious one was the little fenced-in lot at the corner of International Speedway Boulevard and Beach Street," said Sans Lassiter, the association's vice president and a transportation engineer with an office building just off Beach Street.

Now the vacant lot, which was poised to become home to a new restaurant before the economy tanked, is being transformed into a public plaza that will include brick pavers, new trees, flowers, benches, a trellis and kiosk panels with photos of downtown's historic past and renderings of the future from the city's master plan for the area.

The DBPA's original hope for the $200,000-plus project -- a group effort among members, local businesses and the city -- was to complete it a year ago. Now that funding challenges and other holdups have mostly been resolved, work is back on track, and the plaza should be open by July, Lassiter said.

"At one of the busiest intersections in the city, it's going to be something really nice for that corner," said Mayor Glenn Ritchey.

About 30,000 cars zip past the lot on the northwest corner of the intersection every day.

"We certainly believe that the intersection of Beach Street and International Speedway is like a gateway to our downtown," said Cindy Ritzi, president of DBPA and owner of Ritzi Jewelers on Beach Street.

"I think the plaza is going to show progress in downtown and that there's things happening down here," Ritzi said.

After the DBPA conceived the idea to beautify the 0.16-acre parcel, the nonprofit organization that works to improve and promote the downtown area turned to the city government for help. City commissioners responded last spring with a $15,000 contribution to the project and their OK for the city to enter into a lease agreement with the property owner, Bluewater LLC of Miami.

The city also has committed to maintaining the property.

The lease, about to move into its second year, will expire in June 2013, but it can be extended for up to three additional years. Lassiter said recently the owners of the lot have indicated it will be at least a few more years before they're ready to use the Beach Street property, so the plaza is likely to be a fixture there for a while.

Bluewater also owns riverfront property on the east side of the International Speedway Boulevard bridge, and has plans to put a marina and hotel there.

When Bluewater is ready to put the Beach Street property to use, it will give the city and DBPA six months notice. The kiosks, which will be designed to be mobile, and some other things in the plaza will then move across the street to a spot in Riverside Park that still needs to be chosen.

The plaza has been delayed by the challenge of raising money and getting commitments for donated time and materials in a tough economy, Lassiter said. The full project will cost about $200,000-$250,000, and the group is seeking another $10,000-$15,000 in cash and donated fencing to wrap around the site.

Large donors will have their names on the trellis, entry columns and kiosk panels, and people can also get their names on bricks for $135. So far just 27 of the 496 bricks have been sold, Lassiter said.

It's also been tough for the volunteer DBPA members to juggle in the project. But they do it gladly, Lassiter said.

"We believe in the downtown," he said. "We all have homes and businesses downtown. We all want to see the downtown not only survive, but flourish."

So far the lot has been readied for electrical and water service, concrete columns have gone up, light poles have been installed and last week brick pavers were put in. This week, trellis construction and landscaping will begin.

When the kiosk panels are put together, they'll include Quick Response Codes, a type of barcode that can be scanned by smart phones for people who want to upload information on the spot about the plaza and Riverfront Master Plan.

The plaza's creators would like to put a mural on the wall of the building on the lot's north edge, but they're waiting for the city to decide whether to draw up new guidelines for public art.

"Looking at old photos of the downtown, you know what it can be," Lassiter said. "Most of us don't realize what an asset it is. There used to be gobs of people downtown."

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